'Race-baiter' makes court appearance

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You may not know Tony Daniel but maybe you have seen his vulgar signs, splashed with racial slurs around Tampa.

He often provoking anger and outrage, but it was an incident on July 13, 2018 that has Tony Daniel in hot water.

In cell phone video obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, police say Daniel holds a sign with racial slurs. Two women begin to argue with him and the incident escalates.

Daniel is then seen beating two women with a megaphone, continuing the attack as they go toward their vehicle, according to investigators.

Daniel was later arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

But now he is fighting back in court. His attorney, Hillsborough Public Defender Maria Dunker wants all records of the incident preserved for his defense.

That includes social media records, text messages, phone records, and videos from law enforcement and state prosecutors.

Assistant State Attorney Anthony Falcone says the defense is going overboard on their requests.

"It's not just the obligation of the state under the rules of discovery to affirmatively go and seek out items or pieces of evidence which might be potentially useful for the defense," said Falcone.

But Daniel believes he may have been targeted that day and wants the evidence to prove it.

"It's not just evidence, it's also impeachment evidence, it's also evidence of bias that is potentially useful for the defense in this particular phase in defending Mr. Daniel," said Dunker.

The judge ruled evidence related to the incident must be saved and turned over to the defense, anything outside of that will not be.

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